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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25403131">Demons Dance in the Castle Hall</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Varjo/pseuds/Varjo'>Varjo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV), Into the Electric Castle - AYREON (Album)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Attempt at Humor, Drama, Gen, Genderbending, Implied/Referenced Drug Use</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:55:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,351</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25403131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Varjo/pseuds/Varjo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>… but what if they are Good-Omens-demons?<br/>This is the first story that I post here, and it is also me at my doofiest, silliest. I thought it would be good to get that out of the way up front.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Demons Dance in the Castle Hall</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>Inside: in a rather alienating environment. There are colourful, flashy disco lights, but the space doesn’t look like a disco. It more resembles an ancient, maybe even medieval castle, including the ceiling-high, narrow windows, that was made up with a few bar stools, a counter, the works. Strewn along the walls are half-high round tables offering sweets and snacks that all look thoroughly uninviting. The furniture looks entirely too modern, and the sound system also doesn’t fit a medieval castle. Everything is odd and kind of mismatched. The music doesn’t make it better; it resembles earthly industrial music, has a regular thump and no vocals, but it is played on instruments no-one has heard before and that sound decidedly unpleasant to the ears. This is a party of Hell’s… why should anything in it be pleasant?<br/>
In this environment, we find a first bunch of our characters (of course there are also random demons and maybe angels filling up the room, dancing or standing/ sitting around and occasionally carrying champagne flutes). They are scattered across the room:<br/>
Crowley, more feminine than we remember her, wears a glittering fishtail dress, elbow-high gloves with bangles around them and the red locks open around her face. She dances, quite badly and ridiculously, with Ligur who wears a suit that would have been fashionable in the 1920s. His hat is in his hand; the chameleon on his head is seen repeatedly rolling its eyes.<br/>
Dagon, wearing a costume with a pencil skirt, sits with Uriel at the bar, talking, colourful cocktails sitting in front of them, and repeatedly tries to touch her leg. Uriel, donning a low-cut dress, doesn’t let on whether she notices.<br/>
Beelzebub (white men’s suit with silver tie, big green beetle brooch on the lapel), Gabriel (black suit with tailcoat and top-hat that makes him look a bit like a corny carnival magician) and Sandalphon (his old angelic robes, because someone [Dagon] told him they’d be required and thought it would be funny. It is. They smell funny, too, of moth repellent.) are standing in a corner, talking intently. At least Gabriel and Beelzebub are; Sandalphon has trouble getting acknowledged at all.<br/>
Hastur, wearing his usual torn trench coat and maybe a clean shirt and pants underneath, if he could be bothered to dig them up, and Michael in a pristine grey pantsuit stand near the door and smoke. They don’t talk and smell like ashtrays.<br/>
None of the angels dances or even acknowledges the music. Angels don’t dance, you see.<br/>
Suddenly…</i>
</p>
<p><b>Forever:</b> …ty the men of swords. For here… blood runs cold*.<br/>
<b>Michael:</b> <i>(looking up)</i> Anyone hear something?</p>
<p>
  <i>Nobody seems to… at least for now.</i>
</p>
<p><b>Hastur:</b> You hallucinating or what?<br/>
<b>Michael:</b> <i>(disdainful)</i> You wish.</p>
<p>
  <i>They go back to quietly smoking; but Michael can’t help thinking she hears guitars, then bass and drums along with that. Some of the demons standing around seem to have noticed something too. None of the dancers, though…<br/>
The music dies down, simmers to a dripping sound. The doors creak, and someone whispers…</i>
</p>
<p><b>Barbarian:</b> Cries from the grave resound in my ears*<br/>
They hail from beyond my darkest fears*</p>
<p>
  <i>The door opens a crack.</i>
</p>
<p><b>Hastur:</b> What the…</p>
<p>
  <i>Now the music from outside is clearly audible. Some more angels and demons notice what happens, but most demons still dance. (Including Crowley and Ligur who are whirling around each other with joint hands, whooping.) Uriel jumps up from her stool to aid Michael who appears ready to attack the newcomers; Dagon quickly follows her.<br/>
Someone peers into the room through the crack. His eye is bloodshot and frantic. He mutters on…</i>
</p>
<p><b>Barbarian:</b> Faces of the past are etched in my brain*<br/>
The women I’ve raped, the men I’ve slain*</p>
<p>
  <i>Finally, Barbarian, dressed in an animal fur, and Knight in full armour, push open the door far and wide and stare into the hall.</i>
</p>
<p><b>Barbarian:</b> Shades of the dead are sli…*</p>
<p>
  <i>Behind the two first searchers, four other faces have appeared: Roman, Indian, Hippie, Futureman, all probably still distraught from losing the Egyptian.<br/>
Barbarian stops and gapes. Most of the demons still haven’t stopped dancing. He must recognize the menacing look in Michael’s face – still Barbarian breaks into coarse laughter. This finally also catches Gabriel’s and Beelzebub’s attention. At least the latter approaches with big steps.</i>
</p>
<p><b>Knight:</b> What is the meaning of this…?<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> I could azzzzk the zzzzzame thing of you, tin can.<br/>
<b>Hippie:</b> <i>(giggles)</i><br/>
<b>Barbarian:</b> <i>(roars with laughter)</i><br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> What izzzzzz zzzzzo funny, flower child?<br/>
<b>Knight:</b> <i>(stepping forward)</i> We are noble searchers in quest for the Grail, master… or mistress…<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> You can call me Lord Beelzzzzebub.<br/>
<b>Knight:</b> <i>(grasping his sword’s hilt)</i> Demon! Heathen abomination! Get thee behind me.<br/>
<b>Hastur:</b> I think not, tin can.<br/>
<b>Dagon:</b> Most of us already assumed you didn’t. Thank you for the confirmation.<br/>
<b>Hastur:</b> <i>(hisses)</i><br/>
<b>Uriel:</b> My, aren’t you the funny one.<br/>
<b>Dagon:</b> <i>(grinning)</i> Oh, you think? You like that, sweetie?<br/>
<b>Michael:</b> Tell me this, humans – are we under attack?<br/>
<b>Hippie:</b> Relaaaaaaax, girl. We’re coming in peace. Peace!<br/>
<b>Michael:</b> <i>(lordly)</i> You’re speaking to the Archangel Michael, so keep your tongue…<br/>
<b>Knight:</b> Archangel! <i>(sinks to his knees and offers his sword)</i> I offer ye my sword and my faith; I pray to ye for yer blessing, I beg ye to strengthen mine resolve to go to the throats of the foul enemies…</p>
<p>
  <i>Now, also Ligur and Crowley approach to see what the fuss is about. They must hold on to each other to not tumble and fall.</i>
</p>
<p><b>Uriel:</b> What’s wrong with him?<br/>
<b>Michael:</b> He is a human who found out I am an Archangel. Quite the logical reaction.<br/>
<b>Roman:</b> Logical? <i>(sneers)</i> Prostrating oneself in front of one of these impostor deities, while everybody knows that Jupiter is the only god father…<br/>
<b>Barbarian:</b> Oh, you wait until Odin crushes your gods…<br/>
<b>Knight:</b> None of that will matter as soon as the Grail is in our hands! Lord Arthur strengthen me!<br/>
<b>Crowley:</b> <i>(still dizzy from dancing, grinning silly)</i> By the way, dear knight, there might not even be a Grail at all. That might be just a story made up by…<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> Zzzzzzzzzilenzzzzzze! I demand to know what you are zzzzzzzearching here.<br/>
<b>Futureman:</b> <i>(helpfully)</i> We were sent here by a disembodied voice…<br/>
<b>Indian:</b> <i>(dreamy)</i> Ah, the voices in the sky…<br/>
<b>Futureman:</b> … yes, my dear… so, a disembodied voice that kidnapped us out of our respective lifetimes to send us to search and enter the Electric Castle. (beat) This is the Electric Castle, is it not?<br/>
<b>Gabriel:</b> I thought it said so on the invitation…<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> Thizzzzz izzzzz the Electric Castle, you buffoon. I rented it. <i>(turning toward the searchers)</i> I rented it for today, for our party. All of it. For the whole day. You muzzzzzzt zzzzzearch, or whatever you do, zzzzzzzomewhere elzzzzzzzzze.<br/>
<b>Hippie:</b> <i>(perking up)</i> Someone said party?<br/>
<b>Barbarian:</b> I am tired of this. Can I now crush something already?<br/>
<b>Knight:</b> <i>(rising)</i> You can assist me in vanquishing these demons!<br/>
<b>Ligur:</b> <i>(grinning like mad)</i> Might not be the brightest idea. There’s… there’s dozens of us.<br/>
<b>Crowley:</b> Aye-yeeeee. And we’ve got wicked moves. Get it? Wicked!<br/>
<b>Ligur:</b> <i>(crows)</i><br/>
<b>Michael:</b> <i>(glares at Crowley as if ready to punch her)</i><br/>
<b>Knight:</b> My faith will shield me…<br/>
<b>Dagon:</b> <i>(snorts)</i> Please.<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> <i>(exasperated)</i> ZZZZZZZZZZILENZZZZZZZZE! I rented thizzzzz property and that izzzzzz that. Leave and leave now, or we will get unpleazzzzzzant.<br/>
<b>Roman:</b> What does a tiny little thing like you want to do to me?<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> I could put a nazzzzzzty little viruzzzzz in your bloodzzzzzztream or your lungzzzzz and watch azzzzz you zzzzzlowly cough to death. Or I could put it in your brain and watch azzzzzzz it eatzzzzzz away whatever of it wazzzzzz zzzzzzzztill left. How would you like that, toga boy?<br/>
<b>Barbarian:</b> I like the way you threaten him, boy. You don’t look like much, but there seems to be great spirit within you!<br/>
<b>Gabriel:</b> No reason for such crassness, little fly. We’re having a private closed party here, entry only by invitation. Unless you can present an invitation <i>(casts a disdainful look at the searchers)</i> I will have to ask you to leave.<br/>
<b>Barbarian:</b> <i>(hopeful)</i> How about we just bash our faces in?<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> And who made you our bounzzzzzzzer?<br/>
<b>Gabriel:</b> Since you are so obviously overtaxed by the task…<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> <i>(outraged)</i> I will show you who’zzzzzz overtaxed…<br/>
<b>Gabriel:</b> Forgive me, I mean <i>(imitating them)</i> tazzzzzzzzzk.<br/>
<b>Hastur:</b> Oh go stow away somewhere, you two.<br/>
Ligur: What the man says!<br/>
<b>Hippie:</b> <i>(howls)</i><br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> Oh, you irreverent…<br/>
<b>Knight:</b> You’re the one to talk about disrespect, demon scum!<br/>
<b>Crowley:</b> On a second thought, let them stay, Lordy. There’s enough room to dance and enough champagne, and the snacks will probably kill anyone who looks at them funny, so what’s the damage?<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> And now I should let you tell me what to do?<br/>
<b>Michael:</b> I am afraid I will have to concur. It is not written.<br/>
<b>Dagon:</b> Just in case anyone wondered whether you had a stick up your posterior.<br/>
<b>Michael:</b> <i>(merely raises a brow)</i><br/>
<b>Uriel:</b> As Michael’s deputy, I have to demand you stop being that impertinent.<br/>
<b>Dagon:</b> Make me, sweetling.<br/>
<b>Ligur:</b> Damn. You get her, girl.<br/>
<b>Indian:</b> But the legends, the legends of old…<br/>
<b>Dagon:</b> There’s… legends of you joining this party?<br/>
<b>Barbarian:</b> There should be legends of me beating you all to a bloody pulp!<br/>
<b>Indian:</b> Could very well be.<br/>
<b>Gabriel:</b> Could…?<br/>
<b>Indian:</b> I might have forgotten. Might be that the legends said we merely continued our quest… might be that the legends said we celebrated with you. Here. Odd beings, odd situations, odd relationships. The drugs, you see…<br/>
<b>Hippie:</b> Sister! I feel you.<br/>
<b>Crowley:</b> And hereby I proclaim myself legend-about-bringer! </p>
<p>
  <i>She grabs Indian by the hand and pulls her onto the dancefloor; Hippie, crowing, follows immediately, but most of the others remain standing there, shrugging and helpless, for the first.<br/>
Crowley, Indian, Hippie and Ligur dance. Quite erratically but very joyfully. The others watch them, indecisively. Then…</i>
</p>
<p><b>Uriel:</b> I guess… it could really not do any damage?<br/>
<b>Gabriel:</b> From an angelic point of view, I reckon I should be all for Beelzebub’s demonic plans being crushed, no matter how insignificant they might be.<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> Oh, you… wait until I find you unaware, I will…<br/>
<b>Hastur:</b> No-one needs to know anything about what you do when no-one’s watching.<br/>
<b>Beelzebub:</b> He’zzzzzz my twin brother. Do you think I know no dezzzzzzenzzzzzzy?<br/>
<b>Futureman:</b> I promise there won’t be any problems with us. Well, apart from… <i>(nods to the Barbarian)</i><br/>
<b>Barbarian:</b> Hey!<br/>
<b>Futureman:</b> … but it seems you can handle him.<br/>
<b>Knight:</b> <i>(desperate)</i> Does no-one realize we need to subdue these pests?<br/>
<b>Roman:</b> How dreadfully decadent. I will wash my hands of this madness.<br/>
<b>Dagon:</b> <i>(to Uriel)</i> Care for this dance, sweetling?<br/>
<b>Uriel:</b> I believe I repeatedly told you. Angels don’t dance.<br/>
<b>Dagon:</b> Well? You could be the first.<br/>
<b>Crowley:</b> <i>(spinning by mid-dance)</i> No she coooooooouuuuuuuldn’t! I know a secret about an angel who dances very well!</p>
<p>
  <i>The group dissolves; Uriel and Dagon return to the bar and their cocktails, at least until Roman approaches and asks Dagon to dance, which she accepts.<br/>
Knight sticks closely to Michael who keeps ignoring him in favour of her cigarette. Hastur at least eyes him with disgust now and then.<br/>
Futureman, quite like Sandalphon, mostly tries and fails to tap Gabriel’s and Beelzebub’s wisdom. Finally, Sandalphon leaves, disheartened, and tries to dance a bit himself; it doesn’t look like much, a bit like a wind-up toy, but Roman and he shortly find at least their clothing to match. Roman is the better dancer, though, as we find out as he and Dagon separate and Roman and Sandalphon take up dancing with one another. It looks thoroughly awkward.<br/>
Barbarian, following that, walks up to Beelzebub and tries his best to wind them up furthermore to at least have somebody to quarrel with. Dagon sees this and walks over to pull Beelzebub with her to the dancefloor; the Lord of Hell follows, making a show of their displeasure initially, but grinning occasionally when spinning with their fellow demon. Gabriel watches with simmering intent. Barbarian and Futureman slink away into the shadows.<br/>
Another space, another time, at the foot of the Tower of Hope…</i>
</p>
<p><b>Forever:</b> <i>(solemnly)</i> From the wind-torn ramparts of…°</p>
<p>
  <i>Forever stops dead. Looks around.<br/>
There’s no-one here.</i>
</p>
<p><b>Forever:</b> Where are… did they all die?</p>
<p>
  <i>Forever consults its monitoring table. No, no further searchers lost. But they all seem to be stuck in the castle hall. But stuck there? How could that be? Yes, there are spirits sliding down the wall and demons dancing, but none of these were instructed to keep the searchers or harm them. Just, you know, terrorize them a bit. Make a bit of cold sweat drip down their noses. Fear, after all, is an emotion too. Forever must have that one as well.<br/>
So, what might be keeping them?<br/>
As it selects the castle hall on its monitor, Forever gets an idea why…</i>
</p>
<p><b>Forever:</b> Oh dear. I forgot about that… that really was today?</p>
<p>
  <i>Forever double-checks its calendar. Yes, it really was today.<br/>
A faint worry bubbles up in it. It should really learn to coordinate its timetable more carefully. To put an experiment on the same day as Hell’s anniversary get-together…</i>
</p>
<p><b>Forever:</b> I reckon I must go check on them… and free them if the inhabitants of Hell imprisoned them. Shoo them out if they did. They might have rented the hall, and it’s their event, but this is still our property, and we…</p>
<p>
  <i>Quickly, Forever switches to the surveillance feed from the castle hall.<br/>
What it sees makes it start.<br/>
Not only is everyone busy celebrating and drinking and dancing in there (and, as far as Hippie is concerned, maybe even doing drugs) but the sensors show a great outpour of emotion. Different sorts of emotion: joy and drunken dizziness, a bit of pain, rapture, wonder, frustration and irritation, anger, unsatisfied desire, and so, so many more.<br/>
A veritable treasure trove of emotion…<br/>
Forever leans back as it watches alternately the controls and the surveillance footage. That promises to be thrilling indeed.<br/>
Demons dance in the castle hall…</i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*Everything marked thusly is a quote from: Ayreon: The Castle Hall. In: same: Into the Electric Castle. Words and music by Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Berkel: Mascot Label Group/ Music Theories Recordings, 1998-2017<br/>°Everything marked thusly is a quote from: Ayreon: Tower of Hope. In: same: Into the Electric Castle. Words and music by Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Berkel: Mascot Label Group/ Music Theories Recordings, 1998-2017</p></blockquote></div></div>
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